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Technology in Education, Childhood, and Youth
The Technology in Education, Childhood and Youth research cluster critically explores the dynamic intersection between digital technologies and the lives of young people and educators. Our work spans two core themes: the impact and application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) in learning and communication, and the critical role of digital media in shaping youth wellbeing and social engagement
Bringing together experts in language and science education, developmental psychology, mental health and wellbeing, and social inequality - as well as practitioners - the University of York offers a unique interdisciplinary perspective on the role of technology in education and childhood.
People
Dr Beth Bell
Dr Lynda Dunlop
Dr Gill Francis
Dr Zoe Handley (cluster convenor)
Prof Emma Marsden
Dr David O’Reilly
Dr Maria Tibbs
Dr Reva Yunus
PhD Researchers
Laura Becerra
The goals and experiences of language exchange app users: A HelloTalk case study.
This research aims to contribute to the understanding of language learning apps as informal, autonomous language spaces by analysing users' goals and lived experiences to identify factors that may impact their success. The research takes an exploratory sequential design and draws on theories of self-determination, motivation, and language learning strategies.
Laura Ferroglio (visiting)
Investigating English Teachers’ Use of ChatGPT to design materials for writing skills in Italian upper secondary contexts.
The study explores the use of ChatGPT to design writing materials. Educators’ pedagogical and technological knowledge, interaction strategies and perceived affordances and challenges of the GenAI tool are investigated through a questionnaire, practical workshops and semi-structured interviews aiming at fostering AI literacy and critical AI use in Language education.
Faiz Mubarok
Evaluating Generative AI for Written Corrective Feedback in L2 English Writing: Accuracy, Learner Uptake, and Perceptions Compared with Grammarly AWE System
This study evaluates how systematic prompt engineering shapes Generative AI’s ability to deliver direct, indirect, and metalinguistic corrective feedback on EFL writing. It compares GenAI feedback accuracy with an AWE platform and investigates learners’ revision behaviors and perceptions through observation, interviews, and analysis of writing drafts and revision traces.
Tecola Smith
Exploring AI Literacy, Teacher Readiness, and Adolescent Autonomy in Secondary Education: Towards a Human-Centred Ecological Framework for AI Learning and Wellbeing
This thesis explores AI literacy, pedagogy, and adolescent well-being in secondary education. Through three complementary studies, a scoping review and two mixed-methods studies, it examines how AI literacy is conceptualised, how prepared teachers are to teach it, and how adolescents experience wellbeing in AI learning, offering insights for an inclusive, human-centred ecological framework for AI education.
Watch us
Zoe Handley shares her experieince of allowing students to write their essays using generative AI
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Lynda Dunlop in her article helps us imagine how the world might look in 2100